


you know i love you so

by artsyleo



Series: comfortember 2020 [7]
Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Boys In Love, Comfort, Comfort No Hurt, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Good Parent Ben Mitchell, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, or like the tiniest hint of insecurity but its p much just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27441538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyleo/pseuds/artsyleo
Summary: comfortember prompt day 7 - blanket fortcallum looks after lexi for the day, and it makes ben fall even more in love
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Series: comfortember 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995826
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	you know i love you so

**Author's Note:**

> no tw for this one its just freakin fluff

The minute Ben steps through the door, he just wants to go to bed.  _ Fuck _ , the whole day’s just been testing his patience, especially when he knows that he could have been at home all day with his boyfriend and his daughter. It’s one of his favourite things to watch, the two of them together- mostly because there was a day when he’d thought that having a daughter would scare anyone away. Callum, though, he’d taken it in his stride, had bonded with her immediately. Ben knows, despite how much Callum doesn’t like to talk about it, how much he doubts his skills as a parent, but it’s clear to everyone that bothers to notice that he’s already there, just in the way he is around Lexi. They’ve spent the day together today, since Ben had been holed up in the car lot and Lola had been working. Callum had spent most of the night before worried about it, despite how much he’d tried to hide it. Ben had done everything he could to convince him that he’d be fine, but there was still that hint of worry in his eyes before he’d left that morning. 

Ben had ended up texting him at lunch, asking how it was going, to which he’d replied with a picture of him and Lexi, the kitchen and themselves covered in flour, and a plate of cupcakes between them, with the caption  _ I promise we’ll clean it up! x _ . The whole thing had made his heart race, just the look of pure happiness on Callum’s face, the way it was reflected on Lexi’s face as well. It made him want to race home immediately and hold them both in his arms, floury clothes and all, but he’d managed to restrain himself with a reminder that maybe Callum needed this, a day alone with her to assure himself that it was possible that he was better at this than he thought. 

As soon as the door’s shut behind him, the quiet little sound of laughter hums through the house, just loud enough that the audio processor picks it up, and it makes him smile straight away. He doesn’t call out like he usually does, instead takes his shoes off quietly and hangs his coat on the bottom of the bannister, where Callum’s is still hung from when he’d got in yesterday. It’s oddly domestic, the sight of his coat over Callum’s, their shoes side by side, but he doesn’t let himself dwell on it, too afraid that he’s going to start getting emotional in the hallway. 

Instead, he runs a hand over his face, and pushes at where the door to the living room is open just a crack, and the sight in front of him stops him in his tracks. 

There’s blankets and cushions thrown all across the room, making somewhere that always looked to him more like an office waiting room feel like a home, cozy and messy in a way it’s never been before, or at least not in forever. The dining room table has been pulled along the floor so that it’s in line with where the sofa finishes, although he can’t see that any more. There’s a blanket trapped under the feet of it, and then hooked to the ceiling with what looks suspiciously like one of Ben’s ties, tied to the blanket and the lampshade. The other side of the blanket’s trapped under the feet of one of the other chairs, turning it into a huge tent in the middle of the room. The curtains are closed, and there’s pillows everywhere, along with almost the entire stuffed animal collection from Lexi’s bed. There’s little fairy lights that have probably been stolen from the Christmas box strung up along the edges of the blanket, but they’re not turned on yet. 

The sight of all of it, combined with the laughter that he can hear much clearer now somehow makes Ben more emotional than he already is. 

“Well, well, this looks amazing!” Ben says, trying desperately - and failing miserably - to hide the emotion in him at the sight. There’s movement, and both Callum and Lexi emerge from the fort, smiles as big as Ben’s ever seen across their faces. 

“Daddy!” Lexi shouts, and runs across the room towards him, jumping into his arms, and he lifts her up with a groan. 

“Hey, princess, did you have a good day with Callum?” Ben laughs, smiling softly at the blush that climbs Callum’s cheeks as soon as they catch sight of each other. 

“Yeah!” she says, laughter in her voice. “We baked cakes this morning, and then we had a flour fight, but we cleaned up the kitchen afterwards, and then Callum made me lunch and he said we could build a fort!” 

“Well, it’s one amazing fort, baby, it looks incredible! You wanna give me a tour?” Ben says, and lets Lexi down when she nods enthusiastically and wriggles out of her grip. As soon as Lexi’s gone, Callum pushes forward into his arms, pressing a kiss to his lips. 

“Hey,” Callum says, his voice all soft happiness and smiles. 

“Hey yourself,” Ben replies. “Sounds like Lex has had fun today, hey?” 

Callum laughs, and looks down at his feet in the way Ben knows he does when he’s shy. “Yeah, it was, uh, it was really nice.”

“See, I told you that you could do it,” Ben says and catches his fingers just under Callum’s chin, raising it so that their eyes meet. Callum smiles and nods, just a little, his acknowledgement that there’s so much more to Ben’s words than just them at face value. There’s a moment, when their eyes catch, and it’s just pure love between them- it’s the two of them that exist there in that moment, and the belief that they have in each other, the belief that maybe this is their forever. 

“Daddy, come on!” 

It’s broken by the sound of Lexi’s voice, calling him impatiently from the fort, but neither of them really mind. 

Callum takes his hand, pulls him forward and pushes him to sit down on the blanketed floor of the fort with a smile. Callum turns away for a minute, and suddenly the fairy lights around them flicker on, and Lexi cheers as Callum sits down next to them. 

Somehow, the little lights make the whole fort feel almost magical, and they just light up Callum’s eyes where he’s sat staring back at Ben. 

“I love you,” he says on impulse, because it’s the only thing he can think in the moment. 

“Eww!” Lexi laughs before Callum can say anything, but he doesn’t need to- his eyes say it all. 

**Author's Note:**

> fuck am i a sucker for domestic fluff, callum is a father to lexi and ee better hurry up and acknowledge that before i go crazy  
> anyways i hope u enjoyed!! comments and kudos mean the world, stay safe you lovely lot!   
> leo x (tumblr is artsy-highway)


End file.
